Insects. 7365 



than we had dieamcd of or had been able to discover: the consequence was that 

 before we cotdd succeed in culling off all means of egress, some twenty or thirty 

 individuals contrived to make their escape. Now, at this juncture, had we not been 

 provided with armour, we should of course have bolted ofl' and left ihe work at its 

 very commencement, thus increasing ihe difficulties of capture whenever a fresh 

 attempt should have been made ; but feeling secure we stuck to our work till we had 

 effectually closed up every aperlure, aud then quietly set about capturing the indi- 

 viduals that had so far made their escape; this we were soon enabled to do, as 

 they con tiuued to buzz round us or among the grass at our feet in an apparently 

 bewildered state, making no attempt that we could discover to attack us ; there 

 is one thing, we took but little pains to ascertain ihe fact, it being a nialter of perfect 

 indifference to us whether they made the attempt or not. We "bagged" the lot, 

 and ihen with a piece of slick about the size of one's thumb proceeded to make 

 an aperlure through the clay we had plastered over the principal entrance, leaving the 

 slick in the aperlure by way of " stopper " till the dose of chloroform had been 

 prepared, which was pushed in the instant the stick was withdrawn, and the aperture 

 through which it had passed immediately closed up. In a few minutes the drug had 

 done its work, as we were enabled to ascertain by repeatedly striking upon the trunk 

 of the tree near the nest, the first few blows being answered by a prolonged 

 growl from the imprisoned insects, but the responses grew more and more faint, 

 till at length they ceased entirely, and then putting off our armour we began to make 

 active use of the mallet and chisel. From the decayed state of the tree the nest was 

 soon reached, when the insects were found lying helplessly drunk underneath it, 

 except a few which were in the same state between or on the combs ; it was among 

 the latter, immediately under the crown of the nest, the S])ecimen of Velleius was dis- 

 covered, the capture of which was recorded in my late notice (Int. viii. p. 188). It 

 now only remained to "bag" the insects, to remove the nest to the interior of 

 the glazed box, to convey it to its place of destination, to fix it when there in 

 the place prepared for it, to suspend the nest properly inside it, to place food and 

 building materials within it, and then to introduce the colony, which consisted of 

 about one hundred individuals ; all of which was accomplished without diflSculty 

 or the occurrence of any accident. The insects, which had recovered from the 

 effects of the chloroform by the time the box was ready, were, partly by persuasion 

 and partly by force, passed into it through an aperture made for the purpose, and 

 which was afterwards closed with a cork. The aperture by which they were allowed to 

 pass out, thiough an opening in thevv indow, was closed with a sliding door, and this 

 was not opened till all were found to have ascended into the nest, when the slide was 

 withdrawn, and liberty was given them to go out and come in when they pleased. On 

 entering the box they made themselves perfectly at home at once, pitching imme- 

 diately into the good things I had provided for them, and as soon as daylight ap- 

 peared selling to work as quietly as though no change whatever lad taken place 

 either in their circumstances or siluation. — S. Stone {in the '■Intelligencer') ; Bright- 

 hampton, October 7, 1860. 



The ^Annual' for 1861 ; " New British Coleoptera." — 



Bradycellus harpaliuus, Dej. I believe I was the first to record the distinctions 

 of this species (Eut. Intel, viii. 59), but not having the advantage of a correspondence 

 with our continental correctors I was unable to name it. The above seems to have 

 escaped ihe notice of the compiler of the references, although a similar record by me 



